The present invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly and in particular to a seat assembly having an integral child seat. The child seat is conveniently stored within the seat assembly, enabling the seat assembly to be used by an adult passenger. When desired, the child seat can be deployed for use in providing a seat for a small child.
Several seat assemblies with integral child seats have been developed or proposed. However, many of these suffer from one or more deficiencies that compromise the usefulness of the seat assembly and/or its comfort. In particular, due to the added mechanical features of the child seat, comfort of the seat assembly when used by the adult is reduced. This is particularly true in the case where the child seat is contained solely within the seat back of a seat assembly, where limited space is available for packaging of the child seat.
Child seats, whether integrated with a vehicle seat or a separate seat assembly, typically include a restraint system for the child occupant that includes a buckle mounted to the child seat between the legs of the child occupant. These buckles are sometimes attached by a short piece of belt webbing to allow movement of the buckle while the restraint system is being positioned around the child. However, such a flexible mounting of the buckle necessitates that two hands be used by the person buckling the child into the child seat. One hand is used to hold the buckle in place while the other hand is used to insert the belt latch plate into the buckle.
Another problem often found with integral child seats is the placement of the child's shoes on top of the adult seat cushion of the seat assembly. This results in additional wear and soiling of the adult seat cushion cover by the child's shoes.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to improve upon seat assemblies with integral child seats by overcoming the above problems.
It is a feature of the seat assembly of the present invention to improve the adult seating comfort by moving the child seat hardware, particularly the pivotal attachment of the child seat cushion, as far rearward from the face surface of the adult seat back as possible. This is accomplished through a floating pivot axis for the child seat cushion by providing the child seat cushion with a pair of attaching pins contained within slots formed in the seat back frame. This allows the effective pivot point to rise as the child seat cushion is lowered. The child seat cushion is free to float vertically as the foam on the child seat cushion and the adult seat cushion is compressed.
It is an advantage that the packaging of the child seat cushion is enhanced within the adult seat back, ensuring that the bite line between the adult seat cushion and adult seat back is maintained and also enables the child seat hardware to be packaged as far from the face surface of the seat back as possible to improve adult seating comfort.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the restraint system buckle is pivotally mounted directly to the child seat cushion for rotation about a fixed axis. This rigidly supports the buckle, enabling a user to insert the latch plate into the buckle with only one hand by merely pushing the latch plate into the buckle, freeing the other hand to restrain the child, etc.
It is yet another feature of the invention to provide protection for the adult seat cushion from the child's shoes. This is accomplished by providing a removable protective flap of either vinyl or fabric material overlying the adult seat cushion forwardly of the child seat cushion.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.